{"id":359330,"date":"2025-08-20T11:48:31","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359330\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T11:48:31","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:48:31","slug":"bacchae-at-the-national-theatre-exclusive-first-look-at-rehearsals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359330\/","title":{"rendered":"Bacchae at the National Theatre \u2013 exclusive first look at rehearsals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bacchae<\/a>The cast of Bacchae, \u00a9 Marc Brenner<\/p>\n

Exclusive: <\/strong>Rehearsal photos has been revealed for the first-ever debut play to take to the National Theatre\u2019s Olivier stage.<\/p>\n

Nima Taleghani\u2019s\u00a0Bacchae was announced as part of a jam-packed inaugural season from director Indhu <\/a>Rubasingham<\/a> earlier in the year. You can read more about all of the shows included here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Telling the story of the birth of Western drama and celebrating the god of theatre, audiences can look forward to spoken word and rhyme, with lyricism, music and movement. The modern retelling of an ancient Greek story will be performed in the amphitheatre of the Olivier.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s directed by Rubasingham alongside set and costume designer Robert Jones, choreographer Kate Prince, lighting designer Oliver Fenwick, composer DJ Walde, sound designers Ben and Max Ringham, fight director Kate Waters, casting directors Bryony Jarvis-Taylor\u00a0and Martin Poile, voice and dialect coach Hazel Holder, associate director Hannah Hauer-King, associate set and costume designer Natalie Johnson, associate choreographer Ajani Johnson-Goffe and dramaturgy by Jeanie O\u2019Hare.<\/p>\n

The full cast includes Roman Asde (Alexis), Melanie-Joyce Bermudez<\/a> (Serene), Ebony Clarke (Swing), Natasha Gooden (Tina), El\u00e8na Gyasi<\/a> (Niloo), Sam Jenkins-Shaw (Clitus), Reuben Johnson ((Bu)Bull), Kate Ivory Jordan (Xena), Tyreke Leslie (Leon), Natasha Magigi (Sunny), James McArdle<\/a> (Pentheus), Arethajay McEwen (Mertha), Ellie McKay (Nava), Clare Perkins (Vida), Ukweli Roach (Dionysus), Anna Russell-Martin (Kera), Ellie-May Sheridan (Yunann), Fi Silverthorn (Ava), Sharon Small<\/a> (Agave), Simon Startin (Tireseus), Jessey Stol (Rakhz) and Amanda Wilkin (Demi).<\/p>\n

Following its debut,\u00a0Bacchae\u00a0will be adapted by Taleghani to tour secondary schools and colleges around the country. The school\u2019s production will be directed by Hauer-King, with casting and creatives to be announced. Bacchae\u00a0will also be filmed for a future release on National Theatre at Home.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll play in the Olivier Theatre from 13 September to 1 November, with an opening set for 24 September.<\/p>\n

Listen to a free exclusive WhatsOnStage Podcast about the season here:<\/p>\n

\"Arethajay<\/a>Arethajay McEwen (Mertha), Natasha Gooden (Tina) and Natasha Magigi (Sunny) in rehearsal for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Clare<\/a>Clare Perkins (Vida) and Ukweli Roach (Dionysus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Clare<\/a>Clare Perkins (Vida) and Fi Silverthorn (Ava) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Ele\u0300na<\/a>Ele\u0300na Gyasi (Niloo), Sharon Small (Agave) and Jessey Stol (Rakhz) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Ellie<\/a>Ellie McKay (Nava), Indhu Rubasingham (Director) and Ebony Clarke (Swing) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Ellie<\/a>Ellie May Sheridan (Yunann), Natasha Magigi (Sunny) and Jessey Stol (Rakhz) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Indhu<\/a>Indhu Rubasingham (Director) and Nima Taleghani (Playwright) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"James<\/a>James McArdle (Pentheus) and Roman Asde (Alexis) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"James<\/a>James McArdle (Pentheus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"James<\/a>James McArdle (Pentheus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Jessey<\/a>Jessey Stol (Rakhz), Kate Ivory Jordan (Xena), Ukweli Roach (Dionysus) and Fi Silverthorn (Ava) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Kate<\/a>Kate Prince (chorographer) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Melanie<\/a>Melanie Joyce Bermudez (Serene) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Natasha<\/a>Natasha Gooden (Tina), Arethajay McEwen (Mertha) and Ukweli Roach (Dionysus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Nima<\/a>Nima Taleghani (Playwright) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Reuben<\/a>Reuben Johnson ((Bu)Bull) and Ukweli Roach (Dionysus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Sam<\/a>Sam Jenkins Shaw (Clitus) and Tyreke Leslie (Leon) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre, \u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Simon<\/a>Simon Startin (Tireseus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"The<\/a>The Company of Bacchae in rehearsals at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"The<\/a>The Company of Bacchae in rehearsals at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"The<\/a>The Company of Bacchae in rehearsals at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"The<\/a>The Company of Bacchae in rehearsals at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner
\n\"Ukweli<\/a>Ukweli Roach (Dionysus) in rehearsals for Bacchae at the National Theatre,\u00a0\u00a9 Marc Brenner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The cast of Bacchae, \u00a9 Marc Brenner Exclusive: Rehearsal photos has been revealed for the first-ever debut play…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,393,4884,257,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-359330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-london","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115060940470395319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}